By Becky Orr
Wyoming Tribune-Eagle
Copyright 2007 Cheyenne Newspapers, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A fire that apparently started when a water heater exploded caused heavy damage to a Cheyenne home Thursday.
Felix Alcon was inside his home at 3416 Everton Drive when the fire started Thursday afternoon.
But he got out and was not hurt. Alcon was not at the scene Thursday night because he had gone to relative’s home.
Alcon told a photographer earlier in the afternoon that he had just finished mopping the floor when he heard a loud bang. He called 911.
Ken Aitchison, assistant fire chief of Laramie County Fire District 2, said he saw heavy smoke coming out of the back end of the house when he arrived.
Aitchison was the first firefighter on the scene. When he got there, he shut off the natural gas.
“While I was doing that, it blew out the rear windows,” he said of the blaze.
“The initial investigation appears that the explosion initiated from the water heater,” he said.
The water heater is in the back of the home in a now-charred addition.
“There is a clear pattern from the bottom of that water heater door,” Aitchison said. “That’s a pretty good indication that that was the point of ignition.”
Vapors from some type of flammable liquid or gas caused a muffled explosion, Aitchison said.
Flames engulfed the back part of the house and a porch area alongside.
The fire left behind only charred remnants of what was once a kitchen. A blackened and melted microwave sat on a burned countertop.
Intense heat from the fire blistered paint around the doorway in the living room.
Soot and pieces of glass covered the floor.
Early Thursday evening, gusts of wind blew through pieces of jagged glass that once were windows.
The fire originated in the addition and burned up to the roof.
Firefighters had to pull the ceiling out because flames traveled upward and licked the rafters.
District 2 firefighters made a “real aggressive attack,” he said. Crews from Cheyenne Fire and Rescue helped out.
“It was a very good stop, though,” said District 2 Chief Marlene Aitchison.
“Those guys did a heck of a job,” Ken Aitchison said. “They don’t get a dime to do this, but they’re willing to stick their necks on the line to save other people’s properties and lives.”